Selecting device for cross-point selectors with cam contact actuating means

ABSTRACT

A selecting device for cross-point switches which have a first group and a second group of parallel bars crossing each other. The bars are individually displaceable between two outer positions and in the crossing points there are contact means and selecting elements for operating the contacts. Each bar included in said first group activates upon displacement selecting elements located along said bar and each bar included in the outer group activates upon displacement by means of said selecting elements, contact means located in the crossing point. Each of the selecting elements includes a leaf spring fastened at one of its ends on a bar in said second group and having at its free end a lifting stud projecting towards the bar in said first group. The bars of the first group have a sloping surface and said stud can slide on said surface and lift the leaf spring so as to operate the contact. The position of the sloping surface is such that a displacement of a bar in one of said groups is necessary to bring said sliding surface into engagement with said stud and a displacement of a bar in the second group is necessary to bring the stud to slide along said surface and to lift the contact.

United States atent n91 Dietsch Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson, Stockholm, Sweden Filed: Nov. 17, 1971 Appl.No.: 199,469

[73] Assignee:

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 30, I970 Sweden ..l774l/70 US. Cl. ..200/175, 200/153 LA, 335/108 Int. Cl. ..H0lh 67/00, HOlh 3/42 Field of Search ..200/l75, l76, 177, 178, l R, ZOO/DIG. 43, 153 LA; 335/108, 109, 110,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1953 1/1959 7/l97l 8/1971 l0/l97l Lens ..200/l77 Merchant ..200/l53 LA X Alamprese ..200/l53 LA X Klann ..200/DIG. 43 UX Chaveneaud et al. ..335/l 12 X Jan. 16, 1973 5 7] ABSTRACT A selecting device for cross-point switches which have a first group and a second group of parallel bars crossing each other. The bars are individually displaceable between two outer positions and in the crossing points there are contact means and selecting elements for operating the contacts. Each bar included in said first group activates upon displacement selecting elements located along said bar and each bar included in the outer group activates upon displacement by means of said selecting elements, contact means located in the crossing point. Each of the selecting elements includes a leaf spring fastened at one of its ends on a bar in said second group and having at its free end a lifting stud projecting towards the bar in said first group. The bars of the first group have a sloping surface and said stud can slide on said surface and lift the leaf spring so as to operate the contact. The position of the sloping surface is such that a displacement of a bar in one of said groups is necessary to bring said sliding surface into engagement with said stud and a displacement of a bar in the second group is necessary to bring the stud to slide along said surface and to lift the contact.

5 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJAH 16 I973 3, 71 1, 670

SHEET 1 OF 4 x5 x6 x7 x8 NTOR flnut Kumr Y NW ATTORNEYS PATENTED JAN 16 I973 SHEET 0F 4 INVENTOR ARM? Kun'r Dun-ecu BY Wm, QM

ATTORNEYS SELECTING DEVICE FOR CROSS-POINT SELECTORS WITH CAM CONTACT ACTUATING MEANS This invention relates to a selecting device for crosspoint switches (selectors) or the like including-a first group of parallel bars (x-bars) arranged along a plane, and a second group of parallel bars (y-bars) crossing said bars, said parallel bars being displaceable in their longitudinal direction between two outer positions, and contact means and selecting elements arranged in the crossing point between the bars, each x-bar, upon displacement in one direction, being adapted to activate all selecting elements located along the bar, and each ybar, upon displacement from one position to the other, being adapted to activate by means of selecting elements located in the crossing point between the y-bar and a displaced x-bar, the contact means associated with said crossing point.

If a cross-point switch of compact design is required in which the contact multiple, the bar systems crossing each other and the selecting device have a low structural height so that the selector has the form of a plate, the designing of the selecting device implies difficulties. When using leaf spring-shaped selecting devices the driving magnets of the selector are loaded by the force of the selecting springs, which makes strong driving magnets necessary, increasing the volume and the energy consumption of the selector.

The object of the invention is to provide a selecting device which can be placed in a narrow space and which loads the driving magnet of the selector in the lowest possible degree.

The invention will be explained more in detail by means of an embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawing in which FIG. 1a is a plan view of a cross-point switch in which the selecting device according to the invention can be used with advantage.

FIG. 1b shows a lateral view of the device according to FIG. 1a partly in section and FIGS. 2a, 2b,3a,3b,4a, 4b show a selecting device according to the invention during the setting operation.

FIGS. la and 1b show an example of a cross-point switch in which the selecting device according to the invention can be used with advantage. The selector is adapted to connect 8 inlets with 8 outlets across 64 cross-points in which each one or more contacts can be operated by activating one of 8 selecting bars (x-bars) xlxyl-y8. The selector shown in FIGS. la and lb is of the bistable type in which the selecting devices and accordingly the contacts are locked in the rest position of the y-bars. The body of the switch is formed by rectangular plates the position of which appears from FIG. lb. By 16 is indicated a bottom plate on which 64 contact groups are located each associated with one of the cross-points. The in-and outlets which are to be connected by means of the contacts are not indicated. By 17 is indicated a guide plate in which the y-bars are sliding and which bears against the bottom plate 16. By 19 is indicated a base plate which on one hand brings about the guiding of the x-bars, on the other hand forms a support for the mounting of the operating magnets 8 of the bars. The bars xl-x8 as well as the bars yl-y8 are held in rest position by means of springs 7 and are displaced to their working position in the direction of the arrows by means of their individual horizontal magnet 8 which attracts its armature 9 (FIG. 1b). Said armature in turn projects in a hole 10 located in the middle part of the bar belonging to it in order to displace the bar.

The horizontal magnets 8 form 4 groups A,B,C and D, each comprising 4 magnets of which groups the first and the third are associated with the x-bars and the second and the fourth are associated with the y-bars. The direction of movement of the magnets is such that the armatures of the group B are moving in a direction of in relation to the armatures in group A, the armatures of group C are moving in a direction of 90 in relation to the armatures of group B a.s.o. Owing to the fact that the armatures 9 of the horizontal magnets are in engagement with the holes 10 located in the middle of the bars so that the holes 16 form a cross along the symmetry axes of the selector plate, one half of the xbars as well as one half of the y-bars will move in the opposite direction of the other half.

FIG. lb is a lateral view partially in section along the line 1-1 that cuts the bar y5 in longitudinal direction. On the right side of FIG. 1b there is shown a closed contact which has been brought to its closed condition by first displacing the bar y5 by operating its magnet, a selecting spring associated with the respective crosspoint has been lifted by means of the sliding of a bead 3 fixed on the selector spring 5, against a sloping surface 11 in a recess in the bar x7, and the bar ti y5 has been restored by the spring 7 to its rest position in consequence of the ceasing of the energization. The end of the selecting spring 5 now engages a locking spring 12 holding the selecting spring in lifted position so that the latter keeps the contact spring operated. The whole operation will be explained more in detail in connection with the FIGS. 2-4.

In FIG. la a partial section is delimited with the line II along line II in FIG. lb in order to show one of the ybars y8 with its selecting springs 5 and its guiding in the plate 17. With the line III is delimited a partial section along the line III in FIG. lb in order to show the x-bars with their triangular recesses 21. As it appears the selecting springs are directed oppositely in front of the bars yl-y4 and the bars y5-y8 in correspondence to the fact that said two bar groups are moving in opposite directions. This has no importance from the point of view of the invention but is only a consequence of the selector construction of the example shown which hereby obtains a great compactness. Also the sloping surfaces 11 of the bars xl-x4 and x5-x8 are directed oppositely in relation to each other in a corresponding manner as it is shown in FIG. la. In FIG. lb also some of the holes 12 in the base plate are visible, in which the end portions of the armatures 8 move upon engagement with one of the bars X or y. The armature 9 in FIG. lb is associated with the bar y5 and is in released state.

FIG. 2a shows two cross-points having each an individual selecting device which are in rest position and which upon their operation have to bring about contact between the contact springs 6 and 7. The selecting device comprises a leaf spring 5 which at one end is fixed to the y-bar 2 and near to its free end is provided with a lifting stud 3 extending in downward direction through an aperture 22 in the bar 2 and extending through an aperture 21 in the x-bar I. At its upper end the leaf spring is provided with a projection 4 in order to lift with the help of the same the contact springs 6,7. By 8 is indicateda magnet which by means of its armature 9 displaces the bar 2 in longitudinal direction against the force of a spring 10 which upon release of the magnet restores the bar to its original position. The bar 1 is provided with a similar magnet and is operated by the same and by a spring force respectively in a similar way. The only purpose of the aperture 22 is to allow the movement of the lifting stud 3 in vertical direction and it can have anarbitrary shape, for example the rectangular shape shown in FIG. 4b. Also the aperture 21 can have an arbitrary form that allows the movement of the stud in relation to the one wall 11 of the aperture serving as sliding surface and forming an angle of 45 with. the directions of both the bar x and the bar y. This wall has also a slope relatively to the vertical plane according to the example 45 as it appears from the section in FIG. 2a. The wall can however also have a curved form so as to produce a desired movement for contact closing and opening.

The end of the stud is rounded off so as to'be able to slide in upward direction along the wall 11 when it is pressed against the wall or when the wall is pressed against the stud. The stud can approach the wall 11 in two different ways. Either is the bar 1 displaced, in consequence of which the aperture 21 and accordingly the wall 11 approaches the stud or is the bar 2 displaced, in consequence of which the stud 3 approaches the wall 11. However in neither case is the stud lifted since the position of the stud relatively to the wall is determined in such a way that one of said movements only suffices for bringing the stud into engagement with the wall and the second of said movements can press the stud 3 and the wall 1 against each other so that the stud slides along the wall in upward direction. This is apparent from FIG. 2b in which is indicated with dashed lines the position A of the stud in relation to the wall when the bar 1 is moved in the direction of the arrow and in which is indicated the position B of the stud in relation to the wall when the bar 2 is moved in the direction of the arrow. Upon both said changes of position the stud only comes close to the wall 11 but stops at this point. The bars 1 and 2 can be operated in an arbitrary consecutive order. By way of example the stud 2 may first be operated thereby that the magnet 9 attracts its armature, in consequence of which the stud is brought close to the wall 11 and then the bar is operated in such a way that the stud slides along the wall 11 in upward direction. In the same way first the bar 1 can be operated and then the bar 2. The last-mentioned alternative is shown on the right side of FIGS. 2a and 2b. As it appears the stud 1 has been moved in the direction of the arrow, in consequence of which the stud has been brought close to the surface of the wall 11 as it seems from the right part of FIG. 2a.

Now the bar 2 is operated which implies that the stud 3 will slide in upward direction along the wall 11 as it appears from the right part of FIGS. 3a and 3b. The bar one shown on the right side of FIGS. 2a and 2b). In this manner the lifting movement will consist of two component movements which implies that the spring force and the need of power of the magnets can be decreased to approximately the half relatively to conventional selecting devices. Upon lifting the selecting spring 5 the free end of the same is passing a locking spring 12 fixed to the selector in such a way that its free end directed against the selecting spring can be deformed elastically. When moving upwards the end of the selecting spring bends the end of the locking spring and after this the end of the locking spring will rebound to its initial position.

In order to obtain a lasting contact closure the bar 2 is restored to its initial position, the lifting stud sliding along the wall 11 and lowering the selecting spring 5 which with its end after bearing against the end of the locking spring 12 cannot be lowered any more but can only be displaced in the direction of the bar 2 and slide against the locking spring 12. Hereby the contact pair 6-7 is held closed after the bar 2 has been restored. This state appears from FIGS. 40 and 4b which show the bar 2 in its initial position and it is apparent that the selecting device now has a secure support on the locking spring 12.

In this state of the bar 2 the bar 1 can return to its initial position and if the bar 1 has again been operated it cannot affect the closed contact.

When the contact 6-7 is to be opened, the bar 2 is again operated, the selecting spring 5 being disengaged from the locking spring 12 and falling down onto the bar 2 so that when the armature 8 returns to its rest position the selecting device is in the position indicated to the left in FIG. 2a and can be used for establishing a new connection.

The operation can be further illustrated by the movement paths A and B of the end point of the selecting spring 5, drawn with a dot and dash line in FIG. 3a. The movement path A refers to establishing a connection, i.e. when hitching the end of the selecting spring 5 on the locking spring 12 when the bar 1 has been operated before the bar 2. When the bar 2 returns to its rest position in the operated condition of the bar 1, the end of the selecting spring will follow the same path until it strikes against the locking spring 12 and is then sliding along it to the position indicated to the right in FIG. 4a. The movement path B refers to the case when the bar 2 is operated before the bar 1. Also in this case the end of the selecting spring follows the movement path A upon return of the bar 2 to rest position up to the locking spring 12 and is then sliding along the same as in the first-mentioned case. Upon the disconnection, i.e. when the bar 1 is already restored and only the bar 2 is operated, the end of the selecting spring follows the line B in downward direction as soon as it has passed the edge of the locking spring 12.

The function of the selecting device is of course not altered if instead of holding the contacts without current, holding is carried out by means of magnetized relays.

I claim:

1. Selecting device for cross-point switches or similar switches including a first group of parallel bars (x-bars) arranged along a plane and a second group of parallel bars (y-bars) which cross said bars and are displaceable in their longitudinal direction between two outer positions, and Contact means and selecting elements arranged in the crossing points between the bars, each bar, upon displacement in the one direction, activating all selecting elements located along the bar, and each ybar, upon displacement from one position to the other, activating by means of selecting elements located in the crossing point between said y-bar and a displaced xbar, the contact means associated with said crossing point, characterized in that each selecting element includes a leaf spring fastened at one end on the y-bar and provided near to its free end with a lifting stud projecting towards the x-bar, the x bar being provided with a sliding surface having a slope in relation to the direction of movement of the x-bar, in relation to the direction of movement of the y-bar and in relation to the plane of the x-bars and of the y-bars, so that upon movement of the sliding surface and the stud in contact with each other the stud is moved along the sliding surface and lifts the leaf spring from its rest position, the sloping surface being located at such a distance from the lifting stud that either the x-bar or the y-bar must first be operated and bring the sloping surface nearer to the stud in order to make it possible that the movement of the other bar causes sliding of the lifting stud along the sliding surface.

2. Selecting device according to claim 1, characterized in that the sliding surface consists of the wall of a cavity located in the x-bar.

3. Selecting device according to claim 1, characterized in that the sliding surface forms an angle of 45 with the direction of the x-bar as well as with the direction of the y-bar.

4. Selecting device according to claim 1, characterized e in that the sliding surface is a curved convex surface.

5. Selecting device according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a locking spring which at its one end is fixed to the selector and its free end is located in the movement path of the free end of the selecting spring, so that when the y-bar is restored to not operated state the selecting spring slides on the locking spring and obtains support for holding the contact. 

1. Selecting device for cross-point switches or similar switches including a first group of parallel bars (x-bars) arranged along a plane and a second group of parallel bars (y-bars) which cross saId bars and are displaceable in their longitudinal direction between two outer positions, and contact means and selecting elements arranged in the crossing points between the bars, each bar, upon displacement in the one direction, activating all selecting elements located along the bar, and each y-bar, upon displacement from one position to the other, activating by means of selecting elements located in the crossing point between said y-bar and a displaced x-bar, the contact means associated with said crossing point, characterized in that each selecting element includes a leaf spring fastened at one end on the y-bar and provided near to its free end with a lifting stud projecting towards the x-bar, the x-bar being provided with a sliding surface having a slope in relation to the direction of movement of the x-bar, in relation to the direction of movement of the ybar and in relation to the plane of the x-bars and of the y-bars, so that upon movement of the sliding surface and the stud in contact with each other the stud is moved along the sliding surface and lifts the leaf spring from its rest position, the sloping surface being located at such a distance from the lifting stud that either the x-bar or the y-bar must first be operated and bring the sloping surface nearer to the stud in order to make it possible that the movement of the other bar causes sliding of the lifting stud along the sliding surface.
 2. Selecting device according to claim 1, characterized in that the sliding surface consists of the wall of a cavity located in the x-bar.
 3. Selecting device according to claim 1, characterized in that the sliding surface forms an angle of 45* with the direction of the x-bar as well as with the direction of the y-bar.
 4. Selecting device according to claim 1, characterized e in that the sliding surface is a curved convex surface.
 5. Selecting device according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a locking spring which at its one end is fixed to the selector and its free end is located in the movement path of the free end of the selecting spring, so that when the y-bar is restored to not operated state the selecting spring slides on the locking spring and obtains support for holding the contact. 